In a hazardous operating or working environment, a member of a crew can wear a special uniform. This special uniform often includes heavy-duty work gloves. While in this type of operating environment, members of the crew may have difficulty in using a mainstream consumer-oriented communication device such as a smartphone using finger-based touch technology. To activate/deactivate a voice capture function provided by a portable device and use their voice to report a situation to another person and/or a computer system from afar (using a wireless data communication link, e.g., WiFi or LTE), the crew members may have difficulty using a traditional on/off switch for speech input (because of the heavy duty work gloves). Alternatively, to have the voice controller turned “on” at all times to listen to the voice input from the user would unduly consume the battery power for the portal device or instrument. Furthermore, the traditional “air intake” opening on the device is subject to damage introduced by air-born particles from dangerous materials in such an environment. A hinge-based cover for the microphone opening would require the user to open it or close it using a separate mechanism, which could be difficult to operate with a hand wearing a heavy-duty glove.